It seems that Orlando theme parks are joining in on the iPhone app craze. There are plenty of jokes going around on the internet which interject the phrase “There’s an app for that” as the Apple commercial loves to say. But now we can say the same about the newest ride at Universal Studios Orlando Resort, the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit! Yes coaster enthusiasts, there’s an app for that. The Pocket Rockit app, just 99 cents at the iTunes app store, is your personal sidekick to this great ride at Universal Studios.

The Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit is a rock and roll-themed rollercoaster that features all new thrill ride technology and lets you choose a song that will serve as the soundtrack. They have everything from hip hop to disco. The five available genres each have six songs, making a total of 30 songs in the setlist. However, once people began to ride the new coaster it was soon discovered there were more than 30 songs. Somehow, someone tinkering around with the system discovered there were (as of now) 999 song possibilities on the Rockit. The internet blogs went wild posting lists and techniques on how to select the hidden songs which feature everything from Kermit the Frog to U2 and Megadeth.

The purpose of the Pocket Rockit app is to archive and confirm those song choices. With live update technology, you will be able to upload any songs you discover to the app’s list. On the other hand you can also see what other people with the app have uploaded and confirm or deny the accuracy of their song numbers. The Pocket Rockit has all of the confirmed songs, both the 30 original releases and any other songs that people have uploaded. All of the song listings can be organized by band or song like on your iPod’s regular system in case you want to ride the Rockit multiple times and want to experience a different song each time. The Pocket Rockit is constantly receiving updates, so if you’re an iPhone owner and want to go to Universal Studios soon, definitely download this beforehand.

Potter fans the wait is over. Thanks to an official webcast by the Universal Studios Orlando execs we now know the Wizarding World of Harry Potter will officially open in the spring of 2010. Universal recently held a webcast that featured the art directors and designers of the newest part of Islands of Adventure revealing exclusive information and never before seen images regarding the Harry Potter island. This is definitely going to bring Universal head to head with Walt Disney World as both Disney and Harry Potter have millions of fans across the globe. But the important thing to remember is that this incredible park will be an experience everyone will be able to enjoy—even those that haven’t read the books.

If you’ve seen the movies, be prepared to be blown away by the incredible attention to detail. Actor Tom Felton, who plays Draco Malfoy in the movies, was on hand for the webcast and couldn’t contain his excitement regarding the project. The actor was truly impressed and surprised at how closely the parts of the new island he had seen resembled the movie set he grew up on. OrlandoFunTickets.com has the scoop on what to expect when the new attraction opens next year.

You will enter the Wizarding World of Harry Potter through Hogsmeade Train Station, right where Harry starts off his journey in the movies. A number of shops will surround you including Zonko’s where you can buy jokes and gags as well as Honeydukes were you can buy chocolate frogs and other sweets. You will then continue on to one of the coolest and most unique parts of the Wizarding World: the Owlery. Tons of beautiful owls will be nesting overhead in this relaxing pavilion that lets you take a break from the sometimes chaotic theme park surroundings. Next to the Owlery will lie the Owl Post. You can send letters to fellow Potter fans marked with the Hogsmeade emblem just like they do in the movie.

Of course, you can’t have magic spells without the wands, so you will be able to check out Olivanders, where a magic wand will choose you like Harry’s chose him in the film. Dervish and Banges will sell Quidditch equipment and Filch’s Emporium of Confiscated Goods will contain Ministry of Magic merchandise. As for the rides, this island will have three.

The main ride is Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, which will be contained in the centerpiece of the island: Hogwart’s Castle. This dark ride will be similar to Spiderman in build but unlike any other ride you’ve been on. Dueling Dragons has been re-themed as Dragon Challenge and the Flying Unicorn is now Flight of the Hippogriff. The Three Broomsticks, a restaurant serving British fare, will also be part of this fantastic addition to Islands of Adventure. Are you ready, Potter fans?

After months of suspicion and rumor over Universal Studios Orlando newest thrill ride, the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit finally opened for guests this week. Great reviews have been coming in from riders who got to test the Rockit before it finally opened up. “More thrilling than Manta” and “Better than the Rock ‘N’ Roller Coaster” have been a few of the phrases thrown around about this new ride, so you have to check it out!

The Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit is located in Production Central, but it’s hard to miss. You will instantly see the 17 story high lift as soon as you enter the park. At night, with its “concert lights” on, you can see it before you even enter Universal Studios Orlando. The Rockit was made to give riders a concert-like atmosphere and experience. It’s a ride with many “firsts” for the Universal Orlando franchise. Featuring a series of thrilling turns, corkscrews and even a loop inspired by the treble clef, this ride will have you holding on tight!

Our favorite aspect is the fact that you will get to select a song to be the soundtrack to your thrill ride experience. Choose from a list of 30 songs featuring everyone from Evanescence to MC Hammer. The music is apparently timed to coincide with the various twists and turns this incredible ride will put you through at speeds of over 65 mph. “Sabotage” by the Beastie Boys seems to be a popular choice with riders of the Rockit. This coaster takes the usual souvenir photo a bit further by filming your entire ride experience and editing it into your very own music video you can purchase at the end of your Rip Ride Rockit journey.

You have to be 51” and taller to ride the Rockit and it is not recommended for people with health conditions. Make sure you read the restrictions posted outside of every thrill ride for your own safety. But once you’re in the clear get ready for the ride of your life. This is one ride you can’t miss and it’s opening up just in time for the holiday season. Halloween Horror Nights is right around the corner! Imagine zooming through the Rockit while the rest of the park is converted into a haunted land. It’s going to be great for everyone visiting the Orlando theme parks this season!

When Islands of Adventure opened up in 1999 it stole some of the thunder from its predecessor Universal Studios. For the first time, huge roller coasters became part of the Universal family and started making headlines in the thrill-ride community for the record-breaking feats achieved by the Hulk and Dueling Dragons attractions. But this summer, Universal Studios is ready to start a sibling rivalry of sorts with its brand new coaster: the Rip Ride Rockit.

The Rockit is an X-Car Coaster and the largest of its kind in the world. The track is 3,800 feet long with video cameras situated along the track to capture the rider’s every scream and expression. The lift hill that takes you on your first ascent on the ride is a vertical climb 167 feet high. You are not strapped in with an overhead restraint! Despite the loops and twists, you are held in by a lap bar system.

Another feature that makes the Rockit unique is the passenger’s ability to select their own song to listen to while they are riding. Each seat is outfitted with speakers that will play the music at a loud enough level so that your own song selection is the only thing you hear. There are five genres and 30 songs available for you to choose featuring artists of all kinds, from Donna Summer to the Beastie Boys.

Already having gone through its soft opening, many are guessing the Rockit will be officially opening in the next few weeks. Others suspect it will open closer to Halloween Horror Nights in order to promote the horror-themed event. If you’re curious as to what the song selection will be, OrlandoFunTickets.com has the list below. Try to think of your selection in advance, as it has been said you will only have about 45 seconds to decide before you are sent off at 65 mph on your Rip Ride Rockit adventure. Stay tuned for news on the official opening of the ride.

Classic Rock/Metal
• “Gimme All Your Lovin’” - ZZ Top
• “Kickstart My Heart” - Motley Crue
• “Born to Be Wild” - Hinder
• “Paralyzer” - Finger Eleven
• “Rollin’” - Limp Bizkit
• “Bring Me to Life” - Evanescence

Pop/Disco
• “I Will Survive” - Gloria Gaynor
• “Bad Girls” - Donna Summer
• “That’s the Way (I Like It)” - KC and the Sunshine Band
• “U Can’t Touch This” - MC Hammer
• “Glamorous” - Fergie
• “Hella Good” - No Doubt

Country
• “Midnight Rider” - The Allman Brothers
• “All Night Long” - Montgomery Gentry
• “Guitars, Cadillacs” - Dwight Yoakam
• “I Can Sleep When I’m Dead” - Jason Michael Carroll
• “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” - The Charlie Daniels Band
• “Living in Fast Forward” - Kenny Chesney

Rap/Hip-Hop
• “Sabotage” - Beastie Boys
• “Don’t Phunk With My Heart” - Black Eyed Peas
• “Insane in the Brain” - Cypress Hill
• “Rock Star” - N.E.R.D.
• “Stronger” - Kanye West
• “Pump It” - Black Eyed Peas

Club/Electronica
• “Pump Up the Volume” - MARRS
• “Busy Child” - The Crystal Method
• “Keep Hope Alive” - The Crystal Method
• “Le Disko” - Shiny Toy Guns
• “Intergalactic” - Beastie Boys
• “Harder Better Faster Stronger” - Daft Punk

So there is good news and bad news - the bad news is that the opening of the new roller coaster at Universal Studios, the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit, has been delayed. The good news, and perhaps it’s a purposeful distraction on the park’s part from the bad news, is that Universal has also released specific details on what riders on the Rip Ride Rockit can expect.

As opposed to its originally announced opening date of “spring 2009,” the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit (HRRR) will now open in “late spring/early summer,” according to Universal. It’s still a rather vague date, but most are interpreting the date change as proof that the rollercoaster will now open a good deal of time after SeaWorld Orlando’s Manta opens on May 22, meaning that June is likely the earliest the ride would open.

“Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit is the most sophisticated roller coaster we’ve ever created, so we’re working to make sure it’s going to be an amazing experience for our guests,” Universal spokesman Tom Schroder said. “We're going to open it when we believe it’s absolutely ready.”

On the bright side though, roller coaster enthusiasts now have more reasons to look forward to the opening of HRRR as Universal has now revealed never-before-released details on the ride’s unbelievable maneuvers.

In addition to its high-tech audio and visual components, the HRRR will be the tallest, largest, and fastest X-CAR style roller coaster. What does X-CAR mean, you ask? It’s essentially a type of roller coaster vehicle that is more maneuverable than other kinds of vehicles and uses innovative restraints that are less restrictive, more open, and ultimately, more exciting. This kind of design also allows for more kinds of maneuvers that other roller coasters are incapable of performing.

Some of those breathtaking maneuvers on Rockit include a vertical lift that shoots riders at a 90-degree angle toward the sky at 11 feet-per-second. Once the coaster has scaled 167 feet to the top in just 16.5 seconds, riders will be at the highest point of any coaster in Orlando.

Afterwards, riders descend from the vertical lift at 65 mph and ascent into the Double Take, a first-ever maneuver and the world’s largest non-inverted loop at 136 feet tall and 103 feet in diameter. The coaster car zooms along the inside of the track until it reaches the top, where it twists to the outside of the track and rides over the top of the loop, then twisting back inside the loop for its descent.

Other first-ever maneuvers include the Treble Clef, where the steel track bends into a treble clef musical symbol. First sketched out on a paper napkin, this never-before-done coaster move even bursts through a building façade in the New York area of the park. There’s also the Jump Cut, a negative-gravity maneuver that defies tradition by spiraling instead of going straight up and down.

The RRR also features the Crowd Surfer, a 95-degree angle maneuver that flies the car over a crowd on the loading platform; Drop Tuning, a drop into an underground chasm; and the final maneuver, Plot Twist – an inclined loop with a 150-degree banking turn and a complete 360-degree turn.

And let’s not forget that this entire adrenaline-packed journey is accompanied by a musical soundtrack of the rider’s choosing, making it a really rockin’ experience – no pun intended.

Start planning your trip for the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit’s debut by checking out Universal Studios tickets from OrlandoFunTickets.com. And stay tuned to our blog for more info on one of the city’s newest and most exciting roller coasters.

The days are narrowing down to the moment when Orlando roller coaster fans will be able to soar over sea and water in one exhilarating, face-down ride. Manta, the newest attraction coming soon to SeaWorld Orlando, is officially opening May 22, and we’re here with the latest details on how the coolest ride of the summer is coming along.

Though the ride is still barricaded from the rest of the park, fans can’t help but sneak a peek through the cracks at Manta. Nevertheless, the most interesting sights are already visible; Manta’s rails are all completely in place, a collection of bright blue tubes gently curving and twisting over the park. The ride is so far along that Manta recently experienced its first test flights, an exciting moment that had park guests whipping out their cameras and rushing home to post the moment on YouTube. As a matter of fact, SeaWorld has a YouTube account, and they have video of the first test ride up and available for viewing now.

The video, though short, is a great first look at the ride. From what can be seen of it, Manta is surprisingly smooth and quiet, and the way it glides up and down and twirls through the air really does resemble the movements of a Manta ray swimming through the water. In the video, it doesn’t look as though Manta will be too intense, but seeing the ride and actually experiencing it are two entirely different things.

In addition to fine tuning the ride – sources say the first few test runs had some issues of stopping and starting – Manta engineers are still working on the ride’s queue and aquarium areas to get it ready for its big debut in May. They’re also still working on the pond, which is why glimpses past the barricades will yield views of big piles of dirt and construction equipment. With the rails completed and the ride in testing, it’s likely that more of the work will focus on aesthetics now, such as landscaping.

Here are a few Manta facts: when completed, the ride will seat four people who board it seated normally and then are switched into a horizontal, face-down position. The ride will fly through the sky and over a lagoon, reaching a height of 140 feet and dropping down a maximum of 113 feet. All this soaring happens at speeds of up to 56 miles per hour, with four inversions thrown into its 3,359 feet of track.

One of the coolest elements about Manta will be its trains, which are shaped like Mantas with wings spanning 12 feet. At some point in the ride, it’s said there’ll be a splash effect where one of the wings touches the water. Interestingly, when Manta’s fully operational, there’ll be three trains on the track with 32 people on each train, meaning the ride will have 1,500 people soaring over SeaWorld every hour.

And for those who wouldn’t dare brave Manta’s rays but like to wait on line with their friends, Manta’s queue area will boast amazing floor-to-ceiling views into an 184,000 gallon aquarium. There’ll even be a 220 square-foot overhead viewing panel through which guests can see schools of rays swimming above.

With Manta just two months away from its big debut, you might want to go ahead and get your discount SeaWorld tickets now from OrlandoFunTickets.com now so you can be first in line when the ride opens. Manta is set to become the biggest attraction at SeaWorld, and a thrilling experience that any park lover will just have to try.

As the New Year approaches, resolutions will be made, diets will be broken, and vacations will be planned. And as we look forward to a new year full of new starts and experiences, it is important to look forward to what Orlando theme parks have in store for us in 2009. After all, it’s never too early to start planning a great Walt Disney World or Universal Studios Orlando vacation, right? In that spirit, we’re looking ahead to new attractions opening next year, namely the Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit Roller Coaster at Universal Studios. This monstrous record-breaking roller coaster is sure to thrill riders with a one-of-a-kind soundtrack.

Universal Studios announced their plans for the new Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit Coaster back in March. Scheduled to open in spring 2009, the Rockit will be the most technologically advanced roller coaster in the world, combining audio and special effects engineering, on-and-off-board video, and guest personalization for a truly wild wide.

On this adrenaline-pumping ride, guests will be able to pick their very own soundtrack to rock out to while riding the coaster. Before the ride launches, guests will be able to choose a song from five musical genres: classic rock, rap, country, pop, and disco. Then the ride starts, a 65 mph whirlwind that takes riders up 17 stories over Universal Studios. And when it’s all over, guests will be able to take home a video of their wild ride, which they’ll even be able to edit and post on YouTube.

“This is the perfect intersection of the digital age and theme park entertainment,” said Mark Woodbury, President of Creative for Universal Parks & Resorts. “Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit blends roller coaster intensity and guest interaction in a way where no two experiences will be the same.”

Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit will truly be a unique coaster, the largest of its kind in the world. With a vertical life hill that reaches 167 feet, the Rockit will be the tallest ride in the Orlando area. Ride vehicles will feature bright color changing LEDs, and with up to four on the tracks at any given time, the Rockit will be a visual spectacular from the ground. And though the Rockit will not have any inversions, it will feature several heavily banked turns as well as the world’s first non-inverting loop. Nicknamed the “double take,” this non-inverting loop seems like a regular vertical loop at first. However, the track twists around as riders go up, leaving riders upright as they go down again.

Construction began in December on the Rockit, which will be located near Jimmy Neutron’s Nicktoon Blast. Guests going through the park near the Twister attraction might be able to see some of the already constructed tracks reaching into the sky.

Roller coaster fans can’t wait for this ride to be unveiled this coming spring, and neither can we! Expect to get more sneak previews on this incredible roller coaster as its opening approaches. In the meantime, be sure to start planning for that May vacation so you can experience the fast, musical fun of the Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit coaster. The easiest part will be getting discount Universal Studios tickets – simply check out OrlandoFunTickets.com.